


The Catch

by glymr



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: M/M, Shuffle Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-22
Updated: 2009-08-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 18:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glymr/pseuds/glymr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the <a href="http://worlds-finest.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://worlds-finest.livejournal.com/"><b>worlds_finest</b></a> <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/worlds_finest/767646.html">Shuffe Challenge "C", "Catch A Falling Star"</a></p>
    </blockquote>





	The Catch

**Author's Note:**

> For the [](http://worlds-finest.livejournal.com/profile)[**worlds_finest**](http://worlds-finest.livejournal.com/) [Shuffe Challenge "C", "Catch A Falling Star"](http://community.livejournal.com/worlds_finest/767646.html)

"Superman, come in."

"What's up, Batman?"

"I'm falling."

"Where?"

"Northwest of Gotham."

"I'm coming."

"Where were you?"

"The Daily Planet."

Silence. Then, quietly, "You won't make it in time."

"...I _will_."

A sigh. "No. Not in time."

"I'm going to catch you, Batman."

Quietly. "I may survive the fall. Others have survived falls at terminal velocity. But if I don't, tell everyone I...I. You know what to say, right?"

" _Bruce..._ "

"I'm sorry, Clark."

* * *

He can see him now, plunging through the night sky toward the unyielding concrete below. And he's right. There's no _time_.

Spiderman #121 was one of the defining moments of Clark Kent's life. He knows exactly how much impact the human body can take. Knows that an impact with his invulnerable skin at high speed could well be worse than hitting the ground.

He's pushing, flying faster than he ever has before.

Wraps his arms and legs around Batman and pulls him, pushes him, changes the _angle_ just enough...feels the concrete breaking beneath his back as he absorbs the impact that could have... _would_ have...he's skimming the surface now, now angling upward again, and can Bruce's body take the Gs?

Now he's slowing, stopping, and they're floating west of Gotham over the water.

_Are you all right?_ is what he means to say. Instead it comes out: "Don't ever do that to me again!" And then he's kissing him, kissing Bruce, kissing _Batman_ , the other man stiff and unresponsive in his arms and Clark doesn't care, because at least he's _alive_.

Superman pulls back and looks at him, and now he does say, "Are you all right?"

Batman doesn't answer right away. He just stares into Clark's face, his eyes wide and shocked, his body tense in Clark's arms.

"I...think so," he says finally, hoarsely, and clears his throat.

Clark doesn't say anything; if he's lucky, Batman will just pretend that the last sixty seconds never happened. Yet he can't bring himself to regret it. He shifts his grip on Batman, freeing the other man's arms and legs and holding him a little away from his body. "I'll get you back to the Cave," he says.

"Wait." Superman stops and looks down at him. "Do. Do that again," he says quickly, and Superman smiles.

"This?"

It's different this time, Batman's mouth warming against his, his body still tense, but a very different kind of tension.


End file.
